GlobalX prioritises passenger ops as CEO steps down
08 / 02 / 2024
Copyright: Jaromir Chalabala/ Shutterstock
Global Crossing Airlines Group’s (GlobalX) chief executive Edward Wegel will step down as chief executive and chairman, effective immediately.
Chris Jamroz has been appointed executive chairman and Ryan Goepel has been appointed president. Goepel will also continue to serve as chief financial officer.
“While the Company continues its search for a successor, the leadership team will report to the Executive Chairman of the Board. Ed Wegel will continue to serve on GlobalX’s Board of Directors and as a GlobalX Senior Advisor,” said GlobalX.
“It has been a great privilege for me to have helped build GlobalX over the last four years. As I step down from day-to-day operations, I look forward to working with the Board in the future to continue to provide strategic advice and industry knowledge to help continue the growth and development of the airline,” said Wegel.
“I want to thank Ed and acknowledge his profound contributions to launching and assuring the prosperity of our airline. I cannot think of any other aviation executive of Ed’s talent, grit, dedication, and perseverance, which were critical to GlobalX’s rapid growth and success”, said Jamroz, “With a strong operating team in place and a solid pipeline of additional aircraft and revenue contracts, GlobalX is well positioned for the future”, he added.
Despite its efforts to build up its A321 passenger to freighter (P2F) fleet over the last few years, GlobalX is now shifting its attention back to passenger operations.
Jamroz said GlobalX is “re-directing our company resources to be devoted to the passenger charter business and its needs”, though Air Cargo News understands GlobalX will still carry out cargo charter operations.
Last week, Air Cargo News sister title FlightGlobal reported that the carrier is planning to launch in April a new freighter operation in Latin America called GlobalX Colombia based out of Bogota.
Pending final approval of its air operator’s certificate, GlobalX’s new arm will fly between Latin America and the US using one Airbus A321 converted to carry cargo.
The new carrier will also “interchange” aircraft with GlobalX’s broader cargo-flying operation, which has grown its fleet to five A321s. GlobalX also flies passengers with 11 A320s.
“Colombia is a 100% owned subsidiary of GlobalX,” Wegel told Flight Global. ”It has its own management team but there will be shared services between the US and Colombia airlines.”
Based in South Florida, GlobalX had been working on a parallel track to certificate and launch a similar operation in Ecuador, but Wegel says those plans have been paused indefinitely.
The carrier began building up its freighter fleet at the height of the pandemic.
In October 2020, GlobalX signed a letter of intent to lease 10 converted Airbus A321 freighters from the asset management specialist Vallair.
And in May 2021, GlobalX signed a letter of intent (LOI) to lease five A321P2F aircraft with ST Engineering’s Aviation Asset Management unit. These aircraft are being converted and leased to GlobalX progressively.
At this stage, it is not known what the carrier plans to do with about the remaining A321Fs that it has signed lease deals for but have yet to be delivered.
2023 was a challenging year for the air cargo industry. IATA figures show that air cargo tonne kms (CTKs) for 2023 were down 1.9% on 2022 levels and 3.6% behind 2019.
